US-China Political & Economic Influence

GLOBAL POLITICAL INFLUENCE

To examine Koreans’ perception of international politics, we asked respondents to name the country that exerts the most global political influence (free-response). 76.9% of Koreans cited the U.S. as the greatest global political influence, while only 7.4% named China. Other responses included Korea (0.8%),the EU (0.7%), Japan (0.6%), North Korea (0.4%) and others (1.0%). However, responding to the second question about future influence, Koreans predicted China will have significant political influence. The U.S. still had the greatest share of responses (47.8%), but China saw a notable increase in responses (35.1%). This increase came because 35.4% of those who had named the U.S. as the greatest current political influence named China as the greatest future political influence.

METHODOLOGY

The sample size of each survey was 1,000 respondents over the age of 19.

The surveys were conducted by Research & Research, and the margin of error is ±3.1% at the 95% confidence level.

All surveys employed the Random Digit Dialing method for mobile and landline telephones.

3-day rolling average? The sample size of each survey was 1,000 respondents over the age of 19. The surveys were conducte d by Research & Research, and the margin of error is ±3.1% at the 95% confidence level. All surveys employed the Random Digit Dialing method for mobile and landline telephones.

This brief is a product of the Public Opinion Studies Center at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

About Experts

Public Opinion Studies Program / Center for Public Opinion and Quantitative Research

Dr. KIM Jiyoon is a research fellow in the Public Opinion Studies Program in the Center for Public Opinion and Quantitative Research at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. Previously, Dr. Kim was a postdoctoral research fellow at Université de Montréal. Her research interests include elections and voting behavior, American politics, and political methodology. Her recent publications include “Political judgment, perceptions of facts, and partisan effects” (Electoral Studies, 2010), “Public spending, public deficits, and government coalition” (Political Studies, 2010), and “The Party System in Korea and Identity Politics” (in Larry Diamond and Shin Giwook Eds., New Challenges for Maturing Democracies in Korea and Taiwan, Stanford University Press, 2014). She received her B.A. from Yonsei University, M.P.P. in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley, and Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Karl Friedhoff

Center for Public Opinion and Quantitative Research

Karl FRIEDHOFF is a program officer in the Public Opinion Studies Program at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. Prior to joining the Asan Institute, he was a program assistant at the Institute for Global Economics. He earned an M.A. in international commerce at Seoul National University and a B.A. in political science at Wittenberg University. His writing has appeared in the Korea Herald and the Joongang Daily.